Jernigan, who passed away June 23 at the age of 71, was active in the San Diego arts community, with strong ties to The Mingei Museum, The Asian Arts Council, The Japanese Friendship Garden, the Athenaeum and the La Jolla Playhouse.

The gift was announced to the Athenaeum’s board of trustees on Aug. 20 by Executive Director Erika Torri.

“The Athenaeum Music & Arts Library is most grateful for this generous gift from Mary Beth Jernigan,” Torri said. “Mary Beth was a wonderful friend and enthusiastic supporter and participant of all our activities. This gift is the largest bequest in the Athenaeum’s history, and it is a most exciting moment for the organization. Her gift will be added to the Athenaeum’s Endowment Fund and will benefit the institution forever.”

Jernigan considered the Athenaeum her “home away from home” and hardly missed a single event, Torri said.

Jernigan was born in Pasadena and spent her early years living with her older brother and her mother in Nebraska while her father served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. After the war, her family moved to La Jolla; she graduated from La Jolla High School in 1959. She attended UCLA, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in arts and started working in Los Angeles in graphic design. It was there that she met her husband Richard Hornbrook Jernigan. They were married at St. James-by-the-Sea in 1963. She lived in Germany and Sun Valley, Idaho, but always returned to La Jolla.

The Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, one of only 16 nonprofit membership libraries in the United States, is devoted exclusively to music and art and has an extensive collection of books, periodicals, reference material, compact discs, videocassettes, DVDs, sheet music and librettos, as well as one of the most significant collections of artists’ books in Southern California.